Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39910202›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Network pharmacology and experimental verification to investigate the mechanism of isoliquiritigenin for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Waimao Gao, Guang Yang, Xinjuan Liu, Kaifan Hu, Jie Pan, Xingyu Wang, Yan Zhao, Ying Xu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Waimao Gao *Department of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Guang Yang *Department of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Xinjuan LiuDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Kaifan HuDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Jie PanDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Xingyu WangDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Yan ZhaoDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China. yanzhao319@shutcm.edu.cn.
Ying XuDepartment of Physiology, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China. yingxu612@shutcm.edu.cn.

Funding

General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China 82174003
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL), a flavone isolated from licorice, has been demonstrated to exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the molecular details of the contribution of ISL to AD remain largely elusive. The present study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of ISL against AD. In this study, AD targets and ISL targets were collected via different databases. The overlapped targets between AD and ISL were generated with Venny. Then we performed Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses on these common targets. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and clusters were obtained using the Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) and the Cytohubba plugins. Further, molecular docking study was performed for these core targets. Subsequently, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and the assessment of hub gene expression levels between AD and healthy individuals were used to estimate a possible link between target genes in AD. Finally, experiments were conducted to verify the therapeutic mechanism of ISL in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV2 microglial cells. GO and KEGG pathway analysis found that ISL was significantly enriched in regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. The PPI network manifested 7 key targets including albumin (ALB), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), solute carrier family 2 member 1 (SLC2A1), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARA) and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ, PPARG). Molecular docking showed that ISL had high binding affinity with these key targets. The experimental results revealed that ISL decreased extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation and increased the expression of PPAR-γ, and suppressed the production of proinflammatory mediators. Our work revealed that ISL might be an effective treatment strategy in the treatment of AD by its anti-inflammatory effect towards microglia through the ERK/PPAR-γ pathway.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseChalconesNetwork PharmacologyAnimalsCell LineGene OntologyHumansLipopolysaccharidesMiceMicrogliaMolecular Docking SimulationProtein Interaction MapsSignal TransductionChalconesisoliquiritigeninLipopolysaccharidesAlzheimer’s diseaseBV2 microglial cellsERK/PPAR-γ pathwayIsoliquiritigeninNetwork pharmacologyNeuroinflammation

Identifiers

PMID39910202
PMCPMC11799321

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.